Blogging Away Debt

We hear all the time about the welfare state, and the generations of people living on welfare, etc. And being a conservative, that has always driven me batty. “I’m working my butt off to support my family with no assistance, and these people who are perfectly capable for working, just sit on their butts and collect a check which I worked for.” –has been my attitude on it. And this even coming from a social work background.

Now I certainly know that there are people who truly need the assistance, they cannot work or what they can do would not be able to support them. I get that. But having been in and around the social work field since the early 90s, I can promise you that this is not the majority of welfare recipients.

But now I am one of those people. We are receiving SNAP (food stamps) and Medicare. I do not qualify for any other assistance due to the adoption assistance for the twins…$1372 per month. (This number is public knowledge and every state sets their own rates, you can read more about in on the NACAC website.)

It was a VERY humbling experience to apply and have an in person interview for these services to be awarded. I had to prove everything…my kids, my income, my bills, my job loss, my bank balances, etc. I am not sure I have every felt so much shame and failure. But I had to do it, I have four children to take care of. And the only way I got through it was by telling myself – I have paid into this system since I was 15 years old AND this is not a long term solution, just short term assistance. But frankly, I am so embarrassed to go buy groceries and have to use the SNAP card. And while I pray that embarrassment never goes away as that is certainly a lesson in and of itself for me, I am educating our children at the same time and teaching them not to judge people in these situations, as I have for so long.

Needless, to say, we cannot live on $1372 per month, especially when rent on our 2 bedroom, 900 square foot apartment is $1435 per month. So I’m having to continually seek additional assistance (in addition to my job search, odd job, etc.) And it’s in seeking this assistance that I have learned ALOT about this “system” of ours.

I don’t want to write a book here and I could not about my experiences the last couple of months, I do want to give you some highlights. And maybe some food for thought as you think of your charity choices.

EVERY SINGLE place I’ve applied for help has turned me down. The most common reason…I haven’t received an eviction notice. Something is wrong with this picture to me. So you want a single mom of four to be put out on the street before you step in?
YOU CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE and receive assistance. I did not buy my kids Christmas presents. Every dime I get, I put toward bills. We ate ramen for most of the month of December SO that we could have a great Christmas dinner. Yes, that might have been my receipt with a couple of steaks at Christmas time…but if you looked at the rest of the month it was sandwiches and ramen. So when I’ve gone to get help, don’t have an eviction notice and my utilities are just a week or so late…yup, no assistance for you.
NO ONE EATS expired or weird types of food. We have been blessed beyond measure with food. Thanksgiving basket from a church, turkey from our neighbor and boxes and boxes of cranberry sauce and yams. I am so guilty of this. When one of my kids activities required a canned food drive, I would find whatever we wouldn’t use in our pantry, no matter how long it had been there and send it. Gross! Now I have received those foods. My kids won’t eat them, I won’t eat them. So when you are going to give to a food pantry, give them money…they can buy fresh food, food that people will actually eat. I have a big box in the back of my car of food to donate…because we don’t eat it. But I hesitate to send it back because I hate for another family to get a whole box of cranberry sauce and yams!
IT IS REALLY HARD to get ahead and by ahead I mean paying your bills on time or at least on time enough not to accrue late fees, when you can only get help when you are SO far behind. Since I’ve known I had this part time job for months now, I also knew that if I got to my start date being so far behind on bills, I would NEVER catch up. And while I knew I wouldn’t make enough to cover all the bills, but I figured I would be able to at least “borrow from paul to pay larry and vice versa every month.) Do you get what I’m saying? But if I am even one day late on my rent, there is a fee of over $400 added on. And with other bills the fee ranges from $5-25. So I knew I needed to stay as current as possible. And by the grace of God, awesome friends and community and family assistance, thus far I’m pretty close to on time (4 bills currently in arrears, 2 due to dog bite medical treatment/insurance fiasco,) but I know not everyone in my situation can. So if you want to help someone who is struggling, don’t give them “stuff” or gift cards and I know most don’t want to give money…but you can, absolutely can, pay a bill for them. It won’t take too much time out of your day to make a phone call or take them to a payment center and pay it. No expectations, no strings, just pay it.

I won’t keep preaching. But I can tell you this, I have changed significantly since starting my BAD journey a couple of years ago now. But these last months have made a forever imprint on my life and my attitudes, I have learned so much about the populations that I have wanted to serve my whole life. And I have learned so much about the systems, they are dealing with, I am dealing with. When I am through this phase in my life, I can promise that I will be paying it forward like a crazy person AND more importantly I will work to help improve the systems/services that are supposed to be “helping” these communities. I think for the most part, they are just holding them down…the responsible ones that is. And I promise you there is more than just me that falls into that latter category!

I know the holidays are over and I know this is a debt pay off blog, but I will tell you this, if you are reading this, there are others who are a whole lot worse off then you. I challenge you to reach out, lend a hand, even during your payoff journey.

Job Title/Raise Update

by Ashley

Hey guys! Thanks for all your awesome suggestions on this morning’s post! I haven’t been able to read/reply to all of them yet, but I did see a sampling of great ideas and I’ll be sure to reply later this evening. Thank you! As always, you’ve come through with great tips!

So, remember in mid-December when I mentioned wanting to ask my boss for a title change and raise? Well our meeting was just a couple hours ago and I wanted to give you a little update.

It’s a mixed bag but I’m happy with the results.

For privacy issues I’m going to try to be a little vague about exact title, etc.

Basically, I was hired as a non-tenure track faculty. However, my role has included a lot of administrative duties as I have worked both within my department and externally to really get our department’s online program off the ground (it just launched this Fall and, as you know, I have lots of experience working online since that’s what I’ve done the past several years).

Anyway, I’ve been taking on lots of duties that are really far beyond the scope of “non-tenure track faculty” as an intentional and strategic move to try to get my foot in this door. Of my own accord I’ve been taking additional training classes for online course design/instruction and have been meeting with people across campus in all kinds of departments (including people from content-based departments, IT staff, ID staff, etc. etc. etc.). I’ve been trying to forge relationships and get my name known amongst the various powers that be.

So in today’s meeting, I had a strong case for why my current title no longer matches up with the actual job duties I’m performing. I also typed up an actual proposal of title change that listed (in bulleted fashion) duties that I could perform in my new role as well as a second list of ways that this will benefit the department (of course, mostly revolving around money since dollars are the name of the game).

I didn’t write any actual numbers in my proposal. I wanted to be open. I’m currently on a 9-month contract but know my department head had wanted me to be on a 12-month contract. So what I’d had in my mind is that if I stay on a 9-month contract that I want a 20% raise (and I had lots of reasons to back up this specific figure). If I moved to a 12-month contract I would be willing to keep my current monthly salary (framing it as though I’m not actually getting a raise), but my salary would continue across all 12 months instead of the 9-months I currently work. In my last post I referred to this as a 25% raise in salary (I was thinking instead of 3/4 of the year, I’d now be working 4/4 of the year, hence 25% extra). But thoughtful commenters pointed out that I was being a dummy with my calculation. From a dollars perspective, this is actually a 33% raise over my current salary. So those were the two competing figures I had in mind, either of which I’d be happy with.

And here’s what I was told…

Basically, my department head does not have the authority to give me a raise. She would need to get approval (and funds) from another entity on campus that is control of online programs. She indicated that if things continued going well and the program continues to grow, she believes she could make a strong case for it “in the next year or two.” That was a huge bummer. I wasn’t expecting an immediate change, but I was hoping for a change over summer or by next Fall, so hearing the 1-2 year timeframe was a bit of a blow.

BUT, I’d made this compelling case for why I really needed this new title. So I was told that in the meantime, department head doesn’t care what I call myself. I’m totally seizing the opportunity, changing my e-mail signature, and am now going to give myself this more prestigious title (albeit, without the raise). I still think this is a good thing, because it will look good on my resume/vitae, and if I ever make a move down the road it will show longevity in this position. Good things.

But here’s where salary comes into play.

Remember how I mentioned that they really need me to work this summer? Like, bad. They need me to prep 3 courses AND teach a course. For any non-academic folks out there, that’s a full-time load! But I’m only on a 9-month contract. I don’t get paid over the summer.

So for this summer, specifically, I was told that department head thinks she can justify the need (from the separate entity in charge of online programs) for continuing my full-time pay all summer. In essence, giving me the 33% raise I was going to ask for had we ever gotten to talking about numbers!

It’s still not in-the-bag because department head has to get approval from the powers that be. But from my perspective there’s really no way around it. They NEED this work done NOW. There’s no putting it off until later down the road. They need it.

So I continue with my current contract for now. I’ve given myself (with department head’s blessing) a fancy new title. And I’ll (very likely) continue getting paid all summer. At the end of summer, maybe I can try again for re-negotiations. I really plan to make myself super invaluable not only to my department, but to the larger online program entity as well. As long as I continue doing good work and showing how this change will be mutually beneficial for all parties involved, I have to hope that this will be leading to a permanent increase in pay down the road. For now, I’m happy with the compromise.

What are your thoughts? You’ve got to remember that this is my first ever full-time job so I’m super inexperienced in terms of negotiations and such. I really value your expertise and would love to hear if you think I could’ve done something differently (or maybe can do something different in the future), or what your thoughts are on the situation.

Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

Lessons I’ve Learned being Poor

Job Title/Raise Update